living an inspired life of possibility ♥

Tag: creative pursuits

It’s a personal goal of mine to make more of an effort to do things that inspire me — getting out and experiencing the city, reading good books, going to live music shows, taking walks, etc.

Today, I attended Weapons of Mass Creation with a friend, and it got me thinking about my brand and some of the creative dreams I’ve had on my heart for a while. I have a feeling I’ll be doing some brainstorming these next few weeks, so I’m able to better define some of these dreams and what I might shape them into.

I’ll be honest, much of our day consisted of food (a quinoa wrap with avocado aioli, red velvet cupcake, clementine juice, and a peach/banana/apple smoothie, for example,), but we also took in a few speakers, listened to some tunes, and appreciated artwork.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes/thoughts of the day:

Make time to rest: “You can’t innovate if you’re exhausted.”

It’s all about how you hustle—right people/right places.

“Your work comes from a deeper place; you have to define it for yourself and to the world.”

“Artists: blogs need to be more than a collection of art, they need to be a collaboration of creation curation.”

“Create because it’s who we are. Create to be who we want to be. Participate in something that moves you. Be relentless and create more.”

“Create an experience. That’s what differentiates your brand.”

“People appreciate what nobody else has.”

All in all, it was a good (creative—and tasty!) day spent with a good friend. I’m so thankful for the inspiring friendships I’ve been blessed with.

“Do you trust God with the storyline of your life?”

That one pierced my heart a bit, because for as much as I post about living in the moment, loving my story, and trusting its Author, I realized today that if I’m being completely honest, this is something I really struggle to do.

Perhaps, it’s the writer in me, because I’ll take a look at my life and think of a number of different nice and neat ways everything could come together and work out. This could happen like this… And this like this…

That’s not surrendering, though.

And it certainly isn’t trusting God with the storyline of my life.

Within the last year, I’ve faced a number of different disappointments (with creative pursuits, with relationships, and even just with myself), and I think I haven’t always known how to handle those or what to do with them.

I know the logical answer is to take them to God, trusting that He works everything out for our good and His glory. And I’ve done that a little bit, but I’ve also tried to solve some of the issues myself — jumping in there with my red editor’s pen and telling God, Well, what if this happens like this? Or, What if we rearrange this part in this way?

In the midst of all of that, this is what I realized I’ve been learning:

People will disappoint us, and we will disappoint ourselves. Circumstances and timing and answers to prayers will not always make sense. We will feel stuck and frustrated and discouraged when we can’t clearly see the path we’re supposed to be following.

But we forgive — each other and ourselves. We find reasons to be thankful, even when it hurts. We look forward with hope, and we believe that God is good, and that He is making sense of the mess, even when we can’t see the tiniest bit of order amongst all the pieces.

And above all else…

We trust.

We stop wrestling with the plot and the characters and the length of each chapter, because we know, deep down, that He is an infinitely better storyteller than we are, and that our version of the story pales in comparison to the one He is ever-so-faithfully writing for us.

Learn more.

My Book: An Inspired Life

A Little Note

The words and images posted on this blog are my own—unless otherwise credited. If you're inspired by something you see or read, and you'd like to share it on your own blog or website, feel free, but *please* include a credit and link back to my original post. And it would make my day if you'd send me an e-mail to let me know you liked my work enough to share it: letterbirdart[at]gmail[dot]com. Thank you! :)